Iridescent
by thefictionfreak
Summary: We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.
1. Chapter 1

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Anime/MangaKuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ

Follow/Fav**Iridescent**

By: thefictionfreak

We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Spiritual - Izuki S., OC - Chapters: 5 - Words: 19,237 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 35 - Follows: 49 - Updated: 5/8 - Published: 4/3 - id: 10240114

\+ - Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten

1\. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

I have a thing for contrasts and conflicts that's why I gave it a try to write this fic. There'd be no insanity here, don't worry, just pure hypothetical and sort of philosophical stuff. There'll be romance too if that's what you're looking for, but (hopefully) this will deviate from the typical love stories that are usually presented in many KnB OC stories (I've read a lot).

This fic is formerly known as Give and Take, I apologize for having to change the title. I realized it wasn't quite fitting seeing how far I'd gone from the original plot (this was supposed to be a fluffy one-shot, lol). I also apologize to those few who have read this as Give and Take before; I had to revise it entirely with some alteration on the important dialogues. 8 months of gruelling over what to do with this fic made me realize the need so I'm really sorry.

Anyway, the story explores topics such as the meaning of victory, athletic values, sportsmanship, and the whole falling in love crap.

Also, I'm pretty sure there'll be some who will disagree with me about the things I'm discussing here, but I guess my years of experience as an athlete make it eligible for me to have my own weird opinions too so yeah.

Disclaimer for all chapters: Fujimaki Tadatoshi owns Kuroko no Basuke. I only own my OC and the plot.

**EDITED 9/27/14**

* * *

"_What does it mean to love? It means to see a person, a situation, a thing as it really is, not as you imagine it to be, and to give it the response it deserves. Love entails clarity of perception, objectivity; there is nothing so clear-sighted as love."_

_-Anthony De Mello_

**Iridescent Chapter I **

Sometimes, Izuki thinks being a point guard is a role too large for his clumsy, less athletic body to handle.

Being a point guard requires maturity, a huge sense of responsibility, and of course, a heaping amount of intelligence. He may have a decent percentage on these areas ‒plus his Eagle Eye, definitely useful special ability‒ but sometimes, his physical strength just won't complete the image.

He pondered on this exasperatedly as he jogged with his teammates on a rainy Sunday, clutching at the side of his stomach to try to ease the cramp that formed there since the first lap. The searing pain just wouldn't go, and every step felt like a blow at his appendix he felt like it's going to rupture soon.

Why were they running laps around the school again? Ah, because the pretty pink-haired manager from Touou suddenly showed up, all wet and in tears, looking for her Tetsu-kun. Coach sent them out, ordered them to run 10 laps around the school, into the rain, after making Momoi wear this tight shirt with a bear on it.

Izuki had no idea why Coach had to make them run just for that. And it's Sunday too. Maybe Coach just wants to talk to her, but still.

He tried focusing on other things.

They passed by the smaller gyms again so he tried watching the girls' volleyball club—the only volleyball club at Seirin—as they practice. His teammates were always looking at them every time they pass by here anyway.

The court they were using wasn't exactly a gym, it was just a covered court so they get to see what's going on inside.

He spotted a few familiar faces, a girl from his class and another one he have seen in the hallways a couple of times.

Koganei and Hyuuga were whispering at each other as they jog behind him, he heard it goes along like who does the other think about hitting on or something.

"The girl by the net. Did you see her?! The one with the braid?"

"Oh the setter? Nah, I think the one who just hit that ball like how Kagami would if he was playing volleyball."

"Heh, you really like tough girls do you?"

Silence. Izuki could tell Hyuuga was narrowing his eyes.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Of course, I can tell you like Coa―ow~!"

"Shut up! Izuki, remind me to kill this idiot later when we finish our laps."

But Izuki was too distraught in pain and exhaustion to actually say a reply.

"Hyuuga, I think he needs to rest now," commented Tsuchida.

"Tch. Just a freaking side cramp," Hyuuga scowled. "Izuki, quit looking like you've been hit by a bullet and learn to deal with that. You're the point guard here, you should be better than that."

Oh. Yes he knew that, thank you very much.

". . . I'm fine."

And Izuki went ahead of them for the remaining laps, still clutching at his side.

He wasn't fine, Hyuuga can tell. He looked like his legs had weights on them, and the bastard was probably close to collapsing.

"Izuki."

"Urghh."

"Izuki, go rest for a bit."

"No."

"You look like hell, go rest for a bit."

". . ."

When Izuki continued to push his weight awkwardly from foot to foot, Hyuuga scowled further and yanked the guy by the shirt, making him sit on a stool by the covered court.

"Just sit there and be useless until we finish the laps. I don't want Riko blaming me if you pass out all of a sudden," the captain growled.

"But you just made a point, right? I'm a point guard, I should be better than this."

Alright, Hyuuga told himself, any more puns and he will punch the guy unconscious.

"Then get stronger, you idiot. Work on your stamina and stop making stupid puns! For now, just sit your ass down and wait."

The clutch shooter jogged away.

Hyuuga can be very cruel sometimes. Not as cruel as Riko, but cruel enough, especially during his random mood shifts. Izuki was glad this time wasn't one of those sometimes. For giving him a break before everyone else, Hyuuga must have blessed him with a year's worth of mercy.

Taking a deep breath, Izuki allowed his worn out limbs to relax. He exhaled and leaned his elbows over his thighs, his head bowed down, watching the drops fall from hair down to his arms and shorts. The strain on his side was starting to wear off too, his breathing more steady, and then—

"Izuki-san."

The point guard looked around. He recognized that voice.

"Fuyu-san."

It was the girl with the long maroon hair from his class. Fuyu Hikari was a member of Seirin's only volleyball club, he's aware of that, but it's the first time he saw her in her sports attire.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, just taking a break."

Then she dipped her mouth on the water fountain.

He turned away and hung his head again, thinking that was it for the conversation.

The two classmates didn't talk much after all.

But they ended up talking anyway; with her standing a fair distance away in front of where he was sitting, occasionally hitting a volleyball hard to the floor then catching it, and then hitting it hard again and catching it again.

"Good job making it to the Winter Cup prelims, heard your team's representing our block. Good for you." she told him, putting on a peculiar smile on, which Izuki thought was strange.

"Thanks, I guess, although I still have a lot to improve," he told her, getting reminded of his predicament.

"How about you guys? Did you make it to Winter Cup Prelims too?" Izuki asked, watching her hands and wondering why they were not swelling from the impact of her dribbling.

"Oh, us? We didn't make it of course," she told him unabashedly.

Izuki tilted his head in slight confusion at that.

"We didn't even get to play even a single _nice_ set in our little time in the Interhigh Prelims. We got booted off almost a little too soon."

He glanced at her face and saw none of the resentment he was expecting. In fact, she looked unperturbed and even a bit enthusiastic telling him of her team's fiasco.

"It was terrible, really terrible. Hahaha," she continued, sneering down at the ball in her hands.

". . .Well it's a good thing you guys didn't give up," he told her, not knowing what else to say. "I'm glad to see you're still practicing even on this weather. And it's a Sunday too."

She shot him a quick tight-lipped smile. "Ah, yeap," she said, hitting the volleyball again. "It's really fun to play after all."

Izuki was confused, but he still gave the smile back.

"Right, that's good."

She glanced at the court and saw her teammates already getting back into position.

"Alright, break's over," she gave her classmate a last cheeky grin before yelling "I'm heading over!" to her teammates.

He watched her jog away, plopping a fist at the side of his lip in thought.

There was something odd about that conversation that he couldn't point a finger to.

It really was a good thing that she was practicing even though with the way she sounded like it was clear that she didn't care about winning and losing. But still, Izuki still found this side of his classmate a little bit strange.

He waited for his teammates to return while trying to relax his still cramping side. While he distracted himself by watching the volleyball club practice, he discovered that Hikari was the team's setter.

Then, the court immediately came to life the moment they resumed their mini-practice game. He wasn't paying attention when he was still running in the rain, but these girls were surely pretty loud when the game is on.

Every time someone did a wallop from the service line, the opposing team would be shouting mild obscenities to distract the server, and the rest would be giggling like goofs. Every time someone committed an error, the whole team would be laughing at how funny it looked or how stupid the perpetrator was. When the ball stays in a rally, a series of yells would be heard along with the booming of every spike, every block, every grunt, and every squeak of shoes on the shiny wooden floor.

During one of the rallies, one of the shorter spikers on Hikari's side got another error. Hikari gave her a good set, and her approach step was good too, but the moment she came in contact with the ball, she failed the hit and it anticlimactically bounced on her instead.

Well that was. . . bad, Izuki thought.

In basketball, an error doesn't give the opposing team a score. They get the ball for the counter, but that's easier to take back. In volleyball, every error counts as a score for the opposing team. And an error like that can mean depletion of the team's morale, too.

He stared at the presumably first year spiker who committed the error, expecting her to be yelled at. Nothing happened, instead, Hikari placed a hand on the first year's head, not to pat it, she looked like she was intending to bury the girl in the ground, while laughing soundlessly, face contorted in mirth. The first year girl was chuckling too, which was odd to see since he actually expected her to be bowing apologetically at her senpai.

Izuki would never have thought that Fuyu Hikari was this laid-back as an athlete, seeing how she was in class. With the way she played the game and commanded her team, he couldn't help but get the feeling that she wasn't playing a sport. It felt more like she was doing it just for the fun and games.

Before his little observations could lead to things—something Izuki didn't fancy—he halted his train of thought and just quietly watched them.

He was almost enjoying the team's antics when his own team of soaked 2nd year basketball players passed by the covered court again where he was resting. Just one more lap to go.

Turning back to the girls, Izuki resumed watching the sort of game he couldn't afford to have in a basketball match.

A game without the stress of being pressured to win.

Maybe, girls' high school volleyball wasn't as tough as boys' high school basketball. Maybe they didn't have the likes of the Generation of Miracles waiting in line to get a chance to annihilate them along with many other strong teams.

Or maybe they're just having too much fun playing to actually care about winning.

He thought that maybe that wouldn't be bad considering the probability that they wouldn't be affected emotionally if they lost and could still continue to play, which is more likely the case why Hikari didn't react indignantly while telling him about how they lost in the Interhigh Prelims.

That's probably a good way of dealing with defeat, but still, as a competitive point guard in a competitive team, Izuki couldn't agree with that.

He remembered shedding tears in their tremendous loss in the Interhigh preliminaries this year and last year, him and is whole team. They vowed to redeem themselves in the Winter Cup, with their goal of being the number one team in Japan.

And here he thought girls were more emotional than guys.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

The rest of the team watched as Momoi and Kuroko left together that early evening. The rain had stopped, along with the practice for the day, and all of the second years were still dripping wet from all those laps in the rain.

On the locker room, Izuki was having a hard time trying to get Koganei to stop badgering him about the volleyball players. He was a lost cause, because Izuki simply didn't have it in him to listen enthusiastically.

"Hey, hey. Did you talk to them? Did you get their names?"

Izuki opened his locker and looked about. "Yes, but I only talked to one of them," he said.

"Really? Aw man, do you know the setter's name? You know, the one with the red braided hair?"

"Yeah. . . I mean no! I wasn't focused on their uhh- them. I was distracted by their play, though," said Izuki, sluggishly taking off his soaked blue shirt by the back.

"And yeah, I mean I know the name of the girl you're talking about," he continued. "She's in my class, her name is Fuyu, or something. Forgot her first name. And nope, her hair is maroon not red."

Then, almost immediately, Izuki's dark pupils dilated, eyes wide, index finger pointing up.

Koganei already knew what's coming next.

"A moron should know more on the color maroon. _Kitakore~!_"

The point guard took his pun notebook out and scribbled the new pun.

Koganei gave him a tired look.

"Alright, alright. Enough with the puns, let's talk about the girls."

But Izuki had already turned and left him, heading towards the showers.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Peeling his remaining clothes off, Izuki stepped into one of the shower stalls. The warm water hitting his pale skin soothed him out of the rigorous Sunday he had been through. He wasn't complaining, he actually liked that he was training all the more, no matter how hard it could be.

Remembering the days' events led to the recollection of a certain group of female athletes, particularly that one maroonhead. It had been strange because he wouldn't have expected another sports club to be in school on a day like this, much less have them playing and laughing around for no other reason but to have fun. They didn't look determined to win a competition soon while here was he and his team pushing their limits for that single goal.

He wasn't sure, but that's how it appeared to him. The only motive the girls had for the day was to have fun—and they must really love having fun since they still opted to practice, even today. Hell, he couldn't imagine how much practice they usually have. He couldn't say a retort to that, seriously, because he enjoyed practice a lot too, even though the harshness felt like suicide most of the time. Still, it didn't change the fact that Fuyu Hikari's team were lacking something, and because of that, Izuki couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for them.

They have to learn how to pursue victory, he thought, that's what they lacked. They have to yearn and pay a debt in the court because working hard and seeing the results of your efforts—especially after a fall—is the joy of engaging in sports. They can do it; they just have to recognize the possibility.

But for them, playing is just fun, like what Hikari had said. And defeat could easily be shaken off.

That's true, somehow, but that's not really what being an athlete is.

Sports are about development. It's about testing your capacity if you can stand up again after defeat. If you lose, you learn from the mistake and get back up again—and that's what his team is doing.

Fuyu Hikari, with his impression of her as a calm and collected student in class, was actually a promising setter on the court. It took him by a surprise actually, especially after seeing how well she mingled with her team when in class she didn't really stand out as the friendly type. More like the serious, I-don't-care-about-you type, in his opinion.

He remembered how loud she laughed, how she almost dropped on the floor in mirth. It was a bizarre sight, one he never thought he would have seen from her. He never saw her like that in class, not even with her friends.

Izuki realized that it was really fascinating to watch a person get so much fun and be so out-of-character while doing something they enjoy, with people whose company they enjoy also.

She would have been easy to like, and it's a real bonus that she's not bad to look at, except he wasn't sure if he'd like someone who is an athlete but didn't have it in her to fight.

And maybe she just wasn't his type.

**EXTRA:**

"That guy, huh? You look cute together."

Hikari scoffed.

"Don't tell me those kinds aren't your type? You know, basketball player, sleek-haired, sort of popular, taller than you…"

"Hmf. I don't think so."

"C'mon, Hikari."

"C'mon Kai."

"Wait, isn't he that cutie from the basketball club?" squealed someone.

"Yeah, and I don't know if you'd still find him cute once he starts spewing stupid puns out of that mouth of his."

Well it looks like the feeling is mutual.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Before it leads to confusion, let me clarify that in this fic, I made Interhigh and Wintercup, probably even Kantou tournament, not just single event competitions that focuses solely on basketball. Here, these competitions also include sports events like track and field, some ball games, badminton, some contact sports, swimming, etc. Of course, volleyball is also included, that's why my OC and her team also competed in the Interhigh prelims.

English is not my first language so of course you'll see a bunch of mistakes. I am not a writer (despite apparently being an artist) nor have I ever been good at expressing my view on things wordily. Anyway, just thought about saying that in case I'm doing anything wrong.

There will be more or less 10 chapters for this fic and yeah, there will be development.

I would appreciate a review so please leave one if you don't mind, thanks.

1\. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

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	2. Chapter 2

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Anime/MangaKuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ

Follow/Fav**Iridescent**

By: thefictionfreak

We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Spiritual - Izuki S., OC - Chapters: 5 - Words: 19,237 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 35 - Follows: 49 - Updated: 5/8 - Published: 4/3 - id: 10240114

\+ - Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

**Iridescent Chapter II**

It was always class hours after that Sunday when Izuki found Hikari all the more peculiar compared to that active, laugh-loving, almost hysterical volleyball player he saw in that covered court.

She wears her hair down in class, not like the way she wore it in a long braid in practice. Her athletic body, which was once clad in a tight black shorts, loose training shirt, black kneepads, and sports shoes, was back in the comfort of her school uniform.

But the actual difference lied with the way she acted like. In class, she seemed like a stoic, reticent, sort-of-snobby kind of student with a small group of friends—the types who only interacted with classmates for the sake of not being called a female douche but nonetheless makes you feel like she didn't give a single crap about you unless you make yourself important. Izuki could swear she becomes a different person when around her teammates.

If some of their classmates see her play volleyball too, they'd definitely be surprised like he was.

It was just too bad she wasn't his type.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

The last of summer solstice faded completely to autumn, the biennial advent of monsoon season approached with it. The Winter Cup Preliminaries was coming next, which only meant extra work loads of work for the Seirin Basketball club. They've been making progress—a hefty amount of it. Kuroko's practicing a new drive, Kagami was learning new things, not to mention Kiyoshi's return adding a tremendous amount of power in their game.

It was also during this period when Izuki got to talk to the volleyball club setter about things which didn't have any relation to school and classes and assignments again. This time it wasn't just simple talk, he somehow found himself discovering things about her and her team, things that he later found himself contemplating too much about.

"Eh?!"

"Merged practice!? With the volleyball club?!"

The guys listened with interest, pausing at once in their lunches.

"Unfortunately, yes," Coach Riko confirmed, sitting on the floor of the rooftop with the boys around her. "Their coach is old and they always had to practice and do drills by themselves because the woman hardly attends. The Sports Department requested if I could give them a bit of assessment. If there's something I can do to help improve their game, that would be good. That club had been in a bad form for a long time and if they don't improve anytime soon, their team will most likely get terminated by the end of semester."

"But Winter Cup's coming. Wouldn't that affect our practice?" Kagami asked noncommittally.

"I'll make sure it won't. It's not exactly what you guys think anyway. You'll be practicing separately of course, but we'll be using the same gym. I won't allow any interaction between the two teams if not necessary. I wouldn't want to know how you would behave yourselves around those girls."

She glared at them. Everyone gulped.

"Also, we can't afford to miss practice even once, that's why I'll be training you guys at the same time I'll be seeing what I can do for the volleyball club. Their practice schedule is the same as ours now. Of course, you'll be my top priority. I'll just lend them a bit of help. This is one of my duties as Student Council vice president."

Simultaneously, Seirin basketball club thanked the heavens for the coach that they luckily have.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Seriously, how is this a merged practice?" Hyuuga complained.

"This is a merged practice. They're practicing while we are practicing."

"Don't give me that, Kiyoshi. It's a merged practice if we are actually there in the gym practicing and interacting with them."

The two bantered while jogging laps around the school as a start of their usual warm ups.

Kagami watched them with twin-eyebrows knitted together. "Captain, what's with it that makes you so fired up? It's not like they play basketball anyway. And I thought you like Co‒"

Hyuuga bonked him in the end.

"Shut up! And what's with it that doesn't make everyone so fired up, huh?"

Sighs.

"What kind of captain are you, Hyuuga…"

"Who said that?!"

Chuckle. "Fufufu. You're so lame, Izuki," screeched Koganei. "You're all excited, don't even try to deny. This is our first merged practice with girls after all."

Furihata nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it's like Coach is setting us up with those ladies."

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"Hell no, she isn't."

". . ."

"But it's not my first."

Gasps. Heart attacks.

"What? Kuroko?!"

"Yes, it's not my first, and yes I've been here the whole time."

"Really?"

"…I thought I was going to die again."

"So you've been set up by your coach to a group of babes before too?"

"Not in a way like that. It's only a—"

"How did it go?"

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"Well," Kuroko blinked, which meant that he was a little indignant, sort of. "Akashi-kun once merged our practice with the girls' volleyball club at Teiko. He said it was to learn strategies in volleyball that can be applied in basketball, we ended up the ones teaching instead, or rather, Akashi-kun did."

Kagami scoffed at the pale boy. "Tch, you jerks. If I know, that Akashi guy and the others enjoyed perving on the girls, especially Aomine and Kise. Midorima too."

"No, Kagami-kun. Actually my teammates were afraid of them."

"You mean the Generation of Miracles?!" Hyuuga asked, a little perplexed by the idea.

"I guess so. Aomine-kun told me he was afraid he'd get spiked in the face if he tries something."

"Ah…"

"That makes sense," said Kiyoshi smartly.

"Hyuuga, I think I'm afraid too. . ."

When they finished the laps, they went back to the gym and found the girls having a 6 on 1 drill. Riko was standing by, observing the team as they play. The poles and net the guys so kindly set up earlier were still not being used since only half of the court was preoccupied.

The captain/ace, Kai, was hitting the ball towards any of the 6 girls positioned accordingly. If the hit gets received, it will have to be passed onto the setter, Hikari, who was tossing the ball back to Kai, who hits it again, and the drill goes on.

While the boys were doing their stretchings on the side, Izuki couldn't help but observe the volleyball club. It was a little odd if not refreshing, to have another team sharing the gym with them during practice—a female one at that. Almost all of the boys were watching too, except Izuki was only observing their play style. And he was seeing something kind of wrong.

Why were they so freaking good?

Good, as in, they were playing really well. The last time he saw them they were quite decent, with only two players performing rather impressively (that was his classmate and the spiker captain). But now they worked flawlessly, with minimal errors and with everyone giving their best. This time, they were practicing seriously too, not fooling around like children.

And here he thought they're supposed to be weak underdogs.

"Whew. Not bad," Kagami commented, noticing how strong Kai attacks the ball.

Hikari, whose hair was back to a braid, was dashing across the front line area, tossing the ball smoothly it looked like it wasn't even touching her fingers. Beads of sweat dangled with each toss as she yelled supportive words to her team. Words like 'nice one!', 'nice receive!', a lot of 'alright!' and a few 'pass the ball more to my direction'.

It was hard not to notice the way she effectively influences her teammates' performances. Not just by words, but especially how she saves every almost-impossible receives that they pass to her when committing errors, so as not to make her teammates feel bad for it.

She was the team supporter, the one responsible for plays and the flow of offense…

The brain and driver of the team.

Just like him.

This made him wonder more about why an athlete with a skill like hers didn't even appear to be a little resentful about getting booted out of competition so easily. He would expect the likes of her to be the type who gives meaningful speeches to her team after a defeat to get their fighting spirits back, but something like that would probably be ironic in her case.

Izuki sighed.

Although in middle school he almost easily lost every time too, that didn't mean he just smiled it out like its nothing and just continued basketball for nothing.

Unlike her.

Moments later, the girls took a break and the boys took over half of the gym. The net hasn't been removed yet, meaning the Coach still has something in her mind for the ladies.

"Riko-san, so how was my girls?" Kai asked, the twirly ends of her high pony bounced as she approached the smaller girl.

"I think most of you guys perform well," she said, smiling politely. "My observations are mainly positive, especially in receiving and accuracy which I've got to praise you guys about. Not everyone can throw spikes like you do and I'm impressed your teammates can receive them like they're cute."

Kai smiled her toothy smile. "That's very nice."

"I'd like to see how you work on offense and blocking after the boys finish calisthenics, and then later I'll discuss to your team about my observations."

The captain nodded enthusiastically.

"Also, you're lucky to have a good setter. Her ball handling skills are good and I can tell she's been working for years to achieve that soft flip in her hands when she tosses so the set goes up without any spin. She'll just have to work on being able to set the ball higher and farther. Once she improves her arm strength, she'll be beyond effective."

Riko found it confusing why Kai suddenly looked like something was caught in her throat that she could not spit. "Ah, Hikari," she started. "You're right. Her tosses are incredible. I mean, what kind of spiker wouldn't want to hit tosses like those she just threw. Really, but. . ."

"But what?" Riko frowned curiously.

"Hikari. . .ah well, I have problems about her."

"Oh," Riko looked thoughtful. "Do you two not get along? Because if you don't, it will be hard to work as a team considering your positions."

"No, no. Nothing like that, we're actually buddies so there's no problem about that."

"What is it then?"

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki was taking a swig from his water bottle when Coach asked him and Kuroko to come with her. When they started walking towards the volleyball players, he could tell she was up to something.

Hikari was practicing a complicated looking setting drill (doing crunches while tossing the ball to a teammate when she lifts her upper body up, good for improving abdominal muscles) when Riko called her out. The setter looked up and went to jog towards them.

"These are my players, Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun," Riko introduced. "Guys, this is Fuyu Hikari, she's a second-year," she told his players. "Hikari-san, they'd be helping you for a while. I hope you get along with them."

Hikari bowed awkwardly, trying to hide her confusion. "Uh, nice to meet you, Kuroko-san. I already know Izuki. We're in the same class so, yeah." She glanced at the guy.

"Uh hi, Fuyu-san." Izuki awkwardly smiled his polite smile.

"Nice to meet you, Fuyu-senpai," someone spoke.

The volleyball player looked around and was shocked to find that it was a smaller boy with light blue hair standing in front of hair. She didn't notice him.

"Alright. So Hikari-san, do you have a basketballl at home?" asked Riko.

Hikari blinked. "I'm afraid I don't."

"It's ok. Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun have spare basketballs at home, they'll let you borrow one later. I suppose you don't have a medicine ball at home either, so I'll need you to drop by my house tomorrow to borrow my Dad's. These guys will walk you there. In the meantime, I want you to practice tossing a basketball here and at home."

"Sure. I'll keep that in mind," she replied.

"Good, you can go back to practice now. We'll talk to you again later."

"Ok, thanks."

The setter jogged back to her team, maroon braid dangling behind her.

"Now, Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun, I have a favor to ask you two."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Practice for both girls and boys were dismissed at the same time that early evening. In the locker room, some of the boys were fooling around about who should be walking a particular girl home and stuff. Some argued they'd have to face the wrath of their Coach first, some argued that she'd allow it since she agreed on merging their practices. Some just didn't care.

"Hey Kuroko!" Fukuda called out their shortest player. "How 'bout you? Who would you be walking home?" he duped.

Kuroko blinked once. "Fuyu-senpai," he said emotionlessly.

They gawked at that for a short while because heck, Kuroko never pick girls he just met. That question was supposed to be a joke.

"Oi, I already said I'd be the one to walk the girl with the braid home."

Kuroko stared at his cat-faced senpai. "I'm sorry. Coach asked me and Izuki-senpai to walk her towards Izuki-senpai's house because Coach said he has to lend her a spare basketball tonight, and then we'll have to walk her home afterwards."

Some of the guys were left with the same thoughts in their minds. _Why didn't the Coach ask me instead? Die Kuroko! You too, Izuki!_

"Mah, mah. Don't worry guys, Riko must have a reason why she didn't pick you," Kiyoshi said, smiling that wide goofy smile of his.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Walking with the two basketball players had both been perception altering and weird for Fuyu Hikari. Truthfully, the only setter of Seirin was expecting awkward silences since both Kuroko and Izuki seemed to quiet (except when Izuki starts punning) and she had been together with neither of them before (except those times she worked with Izuki for group assignments).

Surprisingly, they had been quite chatty on their way, especially Izuki. They never got to talk much before, considering how she's too fond of her teammates to actually interact with her classmates a lot. But now that she got to talk with Izuki outside of the class, she could say that the guy was actually quite nice (but that doesn't change the lameness of the punning).

She was still a bit confused about this task, though. Hikari was sure Riko was up to something, but she didn't ask. She got the idea of training her to toss a basketball and a medicine ball to improve her arm strength, but this walking her thing with these guys was a little puzzling. She had a hunch, though, and she's probably right about it.

They reached Izuki's traditional Japanese home after a few minutes. She and Kuroko waited outside as Izuki took out the spare basketball they had come here for.

Once Izuki disappeared from the door, Hikari seemed to have forgotten that Kuroko was with still there, so the slightly smaller boy broke the silence.

"Hello."

Of course, he received the usual response.

"Whew, I didn't know you were still there, heh," she said, hand on her chest.

"I know. I get that a lot."

"Uh, I see…"

"Senpai seems to enjoy volleyball very much," said Kuroko after a moment.

Hikari smiled at that. "Oh, did I talk about it too much? Sorry, I guess I'm just too obsessed with it," she chuckled lightly.

"I saw how much you enjoy playing volleyball with your teammates," the boy deadpanned.

Hikari's smile softened, her gaze went up to the dark, starry sky, hands clasping together behind her.

"Yeah. It's pretty much my life now. I enjoy it with all of my heart. My current teammates are all very awesome too."

"That's good. I have the same feelings about basketball. And my current team."

"That's good too," she muttered.

After a few seconds of silence, Kuroko blurted the question he'd been meaning to ask since the conversation between him, Coach, and Izuki earlier.

"Fuyu-senpai, I'm sorry if I may ask, but _what is victory_ to you?"

Hikari blinked at the sudden question, turning to look at Kuroko thoughtfully for a moment before giving the boy another smile.

She was contemplating on whether to answer the polite first year or not when Izuki came running towards them with the basketball in his hands.

"That was quick, Izuki-san."

"Here," he handed it to Hikari. "It's a little worn out, but still weighs the same."

Hikari tested it by throwing a few little tosses in the air. "This is good. Thanks," she smiled at him.

Izuki returned the gesture and turned to his teammate, "Kuroko, I know your house is closer here so I guess it will be better if you go ahead now. I'll walk Fuyu-san home. You'll be taking a longer route if you come along with us."

The two boys stared at each other which made Hikari think they were having an inner conversation, until Kuroko nodded. "Okay."

"Ahh, Kuroko-san, guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll see you both tomorrow,"

"Sure. And thanks for walking me here."

Now that she thought of it, why did Kuroko have to walk her too? Or if it was an order from their Coach, then what for? And what's with the funny question…?

Kuroko bid farewell and walked away, after giving Hikari a meaningful glance.

Izuki turned to her, smiling his friendly smile, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Let's go?"

She noticed he has taken his gakuran top off when he ran inside his house and was now wearing a plain white shirt, which looked nice on him.

"Let's go."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Along their way, Hikari managed to make her classmate stop calling her Fuyu-san because it sounded weird, but she didn't manage to stop him from making another pun, which sounded even weirder.

"Ok. Fuyu, I'll call you Hikari-san from now on."

She chuckled heartily, but only at the lame attempt on humor. "Um. . . what?"

It's not new to her that her basketball playing classmate had a very weird obsession for puns. In fact, it's always the first thing that pops into her mind every time she sees him, the fact that he's good looking with sharp eyes and a charming smile only comes second.

The point guard frowned. "What, you didn't get it? That was a pun on your last name, 'for you' becomes 'Fuyu'," he said rather proudly.

Hikari scoffed and looked away, chuckling in disbelief at how lame this guy was.

"You guys are so weird you make me feel like a normal person."

Izuki stopped dribbling his old basketball that he carried for her and glanced at her face which was focused on the road.

Given his observations about her, he couldn't help but agree with that.

"Yeah, you're pretty weird."

"And messed up in the head. . . wait, how did you get that one? I have been acting pretty much normal around you guys," she asked, her voice feigning accusation. "And you haven't heard me in my all-sagacious bullcrap mode," she murmured almost inaudibly.

Izuki gave her a weird look. "Your what mode?"

She shook her head and smiled dismissively, "You know what? I don't really have much time to talk about stuff anymore because we're already nearby my house so—"

"Oh there, Maji Burger. Maybe we can eat something first?"

She looked at him and saw his intention and what he implied.

Hikari was never someone who gets easily swayed by guys she just started speaking with suddenly asking her out even if it's just for the sake of eating somewhere to talk. And if the topic of discussion he was asking her to talk about was going to make him think she was being ridiculous anyway, she most certainly knew where it would be heading.

"I hope you don't mind. . ."

But with Izuki, she didn't mind, or at least, she didn't appear to mind that much. She's got a good feeling about the guy; despite him apparently being a huge weirdo from a team that she could bet her family's money wouldn't agree with her on many things. And if she remembered well, Izuki was the vice president of Seirin's Student Life Committee, which gave her the incentive to think that he's not some judgmental jerk that'll rail on her like the rest of world do for the real reason she's even in this whole sports thing.

Well, it probably wouldn't hurt to try and tell him now, she thought. It wasn't something she was hiding from people anyway, or something she was ashamed of. It probably would confuse the hell out of him for some time, but it's not as if she's wrong and they'll come to realize that once they start bagging all the trophies like she did before, which she believed they would.

Hikari stared at the smile that said he meant well, and found herself returning the same.

"Of course I don't mind. Let's go."

**EXTRA:**

Koganei didn't mean to, but he was able to make all of his teammates' faces go red by suddenly thinking aloud.

"I wonder how Coach is going to use her Analyzer Eyes to the volleyball club? Is she going to make them do the same thing she made us do before? Wait, what was it again that she made us do before? Oh, I remember, she made us take our shirts . . . off."

When the realization that he had spoken something like that aloud hit him, he looked around at his teammates who were already blushing madly, except maybe Kuroko.

"DON'T GIVE US THOSE KINDS OF IMAGES!"

And he, too, joined in the mad red blush spectacle.

**"**GUYS, I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

Good thing their demoness of a coach wasn't around.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

If there are people out there who actually gives a shit about this thing, I'd totally appreciate it if you make your presence felt, so leave a review first before you get the hell out of here.

Haha lol, am just trolling. But yeah, please review. Thanks.

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

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	3. Chapter 3

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Anime/MangaKuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ

Follow/Fav**Iridescent**

By: thefictionfreak

We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Spiritual - Izuki S., OC - Chapters: 5 - Words: 19,237 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 35 - Follows: 49 - Updated: 5/8 - Published: 4/3 - id: 10240114

\+ - Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

The last chapter kind of gave a hint on the mindfuckery in this fic if you didn't notice. Hahaha. Don't worry it'll be explained soon. There'd be lesser volleyball shit from here on too so yeah.

* * *

**Iridescent Chapter III**

Fuyu Hikari realized something while sitting by Maji Burger's ceiling-to-floor windows waiting for her classmate Izuki Shun to finish taking their orders from the counter.

She realized that the guy already knew about her and the _condition_ everyone else thought she had, that's why he had taken her here to talk about it, because _he knew_.

Of course, Kai must have told Riko-san, who must have ordered Izuki and Kuroko to do something. And even if Kai had tried to justify her at some point, her friend still thought she needed help.

So of course, this is still just an order. Not a genuine, friendly concern from a guy who thought there might be something wrong.

Hikari scoffed. She should've known.

"That kid," Hikari said nibbling on a strip of fries, "Kuroko-san right? He's very cute, like I freaking want to squish him, really. But he's pretty odd, you know, almost like a ghost. And he asked me this weird question."

"What question?" asked Izuki, putting down his glass of iced-tea, onyx irises focused on her.

"Well, he asked _what victory is for me_, but I wasn't able to answer because you suddenly came running wearing that shirt, which looks good on you by the way."

She put another piece of fries on her mouth, feigning disinterest on the subject, not even looking back at the point guard.

"What would've been your answer then?" he asked, unsurprised that Kuroko had already asked.

There was a hint of a smirk playing on Hikari's lips, though she still refused to give him her full attention. "How about you answer it first?" she offered, holding her own glass of iced-tea.

"I'd like to know yours first."

"I'm not answering unless…" she directed her gaze on her fingers catching the droplets around the glass, eyebrows hiking up in provocation.

"Well, victory proves that you've worked hard and achieved your best potential in a sport that you love," Izuki complied. "Winning means that you're stronger, wiser, and more deserving than your opponents, but more that, it also means that you've done your best, and that it itself is the greatest thing about it. Training to win and devoting yourself to what you enjoy is the joy of playing sports."

He waited for her take in the implications of what he said—looking for something, some sort of reaction, but he found nothing but indifference, as if the statement has been nagged and rubbed at her for how many times already that she couldn't make herself bother to listen anymore—as he watched her take a long sip on her drink while he spoke.

"That's mainstream," she finally replied.

The setter put the glass down with an audible thud, seemingly ready to get down to business, as her dark-blood eyes finally met his, bearing intensity so fierce Izuki was sure they were no longer talking about a simple matter anymore.

For once, it took Izuki a few seconds to respond. "Yes, because that's a universal truth."

She placed her hands and elbows on the table, finally giving him her full attention.

"But not for me."

He might have been disturbed, if he hadn't half-expected that. "Then what is victory to you?" he asked.

Half-hooded eyes melted against his, and those dark blood ones clearly showed—

"Don't ask like you don't know it already."

—suspicion.

Izuki didn't expect that.

"What, you don't know?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "How would I know? As far as I can tell, you don't care about winning and losing at all, but that's just my observation. If you have other definitions, I wouldn't know unless you tell me."

She sneered a little at that. "Really? Then what did your Coach tell you? I would assume she already had a plan on how to alleviate the glitches in our team."

He thought of it for a moment, recalling the conversation between him, Kuroko and Riko during practice.

"_She's the main hitch; that girl has issues about victory,"_ Riko had told them, "_Kai-san, their captain, told me she's a little complicated. It's not much of a problem, she said, until Hikari-san takes it in a match. She didn't participate competitively, she didn't want to win." _

Izuki had been distraught after hearing that. The irony didn't make sense to him; she plays a sport, but didn't want to win? Does that mean she preferred losing? For what reason? What kind of team player steps on the court with the intention of losing?

Riko had asked Izuki and Kuroko to look into her views on victory then, hoping to at least understand why.

"Our coach said you had issues about victory," he told her. "What it is for you? Do you really dislike winning?"

"That's really how Kai phrased it to her? Hah, the idiot," she chuckled, clearly showing no ill-intent about her friend despite what the captain had said about her.

"Well, about what you were saying," she continued. Izuki listened attentively. "I may have issues about victory or whatever, but that's the thing about me, and I can't help it. It's planted inside my brain and no one—."

"Which is why we're here, to see if there's something we can do—"

"And then what?" her voice sounded higher, "You'll try to brainwash me into thinking something else about victory, about defeat? Because you were ordered to? Because—"

"—no one ordered me to brainwash you—"

"—you guys think that once I change my mind, we'll be the strong team that we're supposed to be and nobody has to worry about our team getting terminated anymore? Is that it?"

Izuki stared at her incredulously. He expected defensiveness, but not to this point.

"Hikari-san," he said, very softly, and then his voice was back to normal, "I don't know what your thoughts are, I don't very well understand what your point is about the whole victory thing, and seeing your reaction to this, the more it makes me want to know."

Hikari released a deep sigh, gaining back her composure.

"So you really don't know, huh? Fine. Have you seen me play in matches?"

"No, not yet," said Izuki impassively.

"Good. Now, you want a piece of my thoughts? Well alright, I'll give you that," she shifted in her seat to lean on the backrest. "You know what victory is for me?"

She paused. Izuki didn't say anything, allowing her to continue on.

"Well, it's something I prefer not to pursue because it only takes away what I love most about volleyball, which is the enjoyment." At his nonplussed expression, she looked out the window as she tried to elaborate.

"Playing for victory means constantly refusing to be happy with your performance unless you get that particular prize," she said, "And you think more of winning than of playing the sport; the need to win drains you off of power—" she scoffed, "—that's pure rubbish pressure if you ask me. I don't care if victory gets your name on the news or gives you a bunch of medals; you get bored with those things soon and you realize you want something bigger. Is it any fun playing like that? Maybe not, cuz I think you're only pushing yourself for the sake of meeting expectations if you play like that. I play because it's fun and I enjoy it, that's all."

The point guard was silent for a moment, ruminating on her words.

So that's her view, he thought. It's decipherable despite the eccentricity, but he still couldn't agree with that. Sports is fun regardless of whether you win or not; what matters is how you play the game, that's why the term _sportsmanship_ exists. And, taking from his experiences playing in the Interhigh Prelims, he knew that the urge and pressure to win in fact fuels up the power in your game—that is if you're really into it. But putting his retorts aside, what caught his curiosity more was how and why she came to think of it like that.

So she didn't enjoy matches where the pressure of having to win is intense, and she believed that victory wouldn't constitute to any good if you glorify in it, which is her reason why she didn't participate competitively at them, a probable cause for their frequent defeat, hence the threat of club termination.

"What does your team say about it?" Izuki found himself asking. "Do they tolerate you not wanting to play for a win?"

The setter scowled as if offended. "Hey, hold it a second," she said. "I was generalizing, alright? I only said I prefer not to pursue victory, but do you think I have a choice once I'm already on the court? Nobody enters a competition with the intention of losing, you know. What kind of team player steps on the court with the intention of losing?"

Izuki had to resist the urge to gawk at that. Just a while ago, he'd thought of the exact same thing.

"So you still give a fight, despite what you think, but only because you're required to," he clarified.

It took her a moment to reply. "Yeah," she said, "You could call it that. My role as a setter is to bring the best out of my teammates, and I still stand by that even in matches, even though _I've come to hate_ matches. I don't have any choice but do what I can to try to win, for my team."

"Then why do you still lose?"

This time, the way she remained silent made Izuki realize that his words had struck a part of her somehow. She looked agitated all of a sudden, almost threatened—vulnerable. It startled him; for all her talk, Hikari still felt conflicted about herself after all.

She averted her gaze and gave an inconspicuous shrug, "Because…" she started, searching for the right words, "Because maybe… fighting, especially for the wrong reasons, doesn't guarantee that you'll be the winner," Hikari muttered. "Maybe I just don't deserve it."

Although it seemed a little too self-deprecating on her side, Izuki agreed inwardly. You'd never deserve to win if it's the opponents who are actually fighting tooth and nail for it.

"But at least you still have a reason to fight," he told her, "You play. In competitions. For your team."

"Yeah. For my team" she managed a little smile. "That's what I tell myself."

He leaned back on his seat, looking genuinely reassured. "That's a relief, although it still baffled me how you came to think of things like that," he said.

"Of course you would," said Hikari, smiling a little. "But you'll see the gist of it soon," she told him, nodding to herself. "Then you'll know…"

"I'd like that," he said, seemingly back to casual, "But I've had enough mental-strain for a while. I think I'll pass for now", he said jokingly.

They chuckled lightly for a moment without any actual reason. Maybe it's their unspoken way of relieving the tensed atmosphere that seemed to have resurfaced throughout the little conversation. Then, when the awkward chuckling faded away, Hikari sighed deeply again—looking thoroughly done with the subject—then redirected her gaze outside through the glass windows and resumed eating.

"The fries have gone cold," she said blankly.

He felt the corners of his lips curling up the slightest. "And the _fries cries _for having gone cold," he remarked.

Now she's the one who gave him the look of disbelief.

She started giggling, not because it's funny, but because this guy is so unbelievably lame, and the fact that he can actually spew stupid puns right now of all times is probably even more unbelievable than what she just told him.

She giggled more, because she needs it, after having to talk about that.

And he giggled with her, just because it was odd to see a girl giggle after all that talk.

"You know what? I actually realized you looked kind of hot when you're scowling. You should scowl more," she teased, the fries hanging from her mouth.

If it was another day, Izuki would have responded to that with a polite withdrawal, but he found he was still a bit tensed from their little discussion that he actually teased back.

"Don't flatter me much, you're already the first girl who actually laughed at my pun. Well aside from my family." Then he, too, resumed consuming his food.

"Oh, what pun? I wasn't aware."

"But you giggled."

"Probably because you're too unbelivable."

"You're way more unbelievable. Trust me."

"I giggled because you were so lame," she spat back.

When she looked back at him again, Izuki's eyes were wide and his eyebrows are knitted ―a look she has seen before. Then he held up an index finger and said to no one in particular.

"The gorilla goriggles at the lame llama_. Kitakore~!" _There was a PING! sound in the background.

Hikari almost choked in her drink, and found herself stifling another giggle because of her reaction. "I see what you did there," she offered and made a mental note to always be ready for pun outbursts when around this random classmate of hers.

By the time she recovered, a little notebook has already found itself on Izuki's hand. While the boy was jotting down the new pun, Hikari realized something and started giggling again.

"See? I'm so punny I can make you laugh," Izuki grinned, looking absolutely triumphant.

"You have a handy-dandy notebook."

"Of course, you miss the fun when you miss the pun, so I keep it handy-dandy."

Giggle. "Do you also. . . sit down in a thinking chair and think, think, think," she sang, mimicking that weird guy with striped green shirt.

And their conversation suddenly turned into a giggling fit full of lame puns and lame teasing. The topic about issues on victory long been forgotten.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

The next day, practice went the same as usual. The basketball club was still pretty much distracted having the volleyball club in the same gym, but later found it bearable enough, and they weren't throwing glances at them anymore. Ironically, Coach thinks it was a good training for the boys. It meant that even if they're exposed to distraction, they can still perform well.

When the girls had a mini-practice game by themselves while the guys sat for their water break, it was an excuse to watch them play. Coach allowed it, because she weren't shooting them glares.

Izuki, the team's point guard, couldn't help but feel like the world wasn't being fair to him.

The setter, his classmate Fuyu Hikari, had impeccable skills compared to other girls her age, playmaking abilities, and a good stamina (her team position requires countless numbers of laps around the court she might as well sprints half a mile in each match).

She had the makings of a good athlete; she had the skill—but didn't like playing for competition. What a waste, he thought. That skill could really save her team from club termination if she only willingly use with the intention of winning, at least then she'd get to stand on equal grounds with her opponents with regards to deserving to win.

He, on the other hand, genuinely pursued victory without any excuses and without any doubt in his heart and worked very hard and gave his best to help his team achieve victory so that by the end of the match, it'd be assured that he and his team would be swelling with joy and fulfilment and be feeling like the world is all good and sports is so fun and everything is amazing.

However, despite all these, Izuki was still not particularly good at anything other than punning and has no offensive weapons and was pretty much the least special among the Seirin regulars albeit having the Eagle Eye, not to mention his low stamina and clumsiness never ceased to earn him the occasional yelling from the Riko and Hyuuga and―

"Izuki-senpai."

He whirled around, found Kuroko staring just beside him on the bench.

Izuki almost had another heart attack.

"I believe you were able to ask Fuyu-senpai about what Coach said yesterday," the first year asked, after Izuki recovered from the shock. He could never get used to the invisible kid.

"Oh, that," said Izuki. He huffed a little and placed his elbows on his parted thighs. Then he proceeded to tell the younger boy all that he'd learned from his classmate last night.

Kuroko became silent for a while, just contemplatively staring at the ground in front of him.

"That's… different," said Kuroko, "But I see her point. It's a good thing she plays because she enjoys it, not for the sake of just winning, though I couldn't agree with the way she's taking the idea of victory too negatively."

"That's what I thought too," said Izuki, watching the girls on the court. "It's strange that she's still going on with all those ideas when her team's already on the verge of shutting down."

"It's strange, yes. She needs to re-evaluate her priorities for her team if she wants to keep playing with them… though I don't think Fuyu-senpai hasn't thought of that yet."

They watched Hikari throw a serve and prepare for the other team's attack. The ball was delivered back in a blow, but they kept it in rally. She dashed across and prepared to set, raising her arms overhead and spreading her fingers in a gesture that looked vaguely similar to a dance step. The ball went up flawlessly and was slammed down for another point.

As she erupted into a huge grin and a shout of 'Alright! Another point!' while raising a tightly shut fist to her side of the court, Izuki realized that Kuroko might actually be right. What Hikari believed in are concepts; ideologies that could be questioned and broken given a particular situation. Given the predicament of her team, Izuki had a hunch that a part of her probably be felt responsible for the threat of club termination due to her views on victory and her unwillingness to participate in matches competitively.

And if what he and Kuroko thought were true, the mixture of self-conflict and regret she felt must really be appalling. She's stuck in a rut; now she felt the need to fight—like how she appeared to at the moment watching her—and with it she has to tell herself that she'd been wrong about her ideals all along; _I have to win, winning is important, if it would sustain the existence of my team, I need to win._

It would make her lose herself as well as the ideals she kept all this time, and that's something Izuki wouldn't want to see.

"If Akashi-kun was here, they would have clashed."

"What was that again?" Izuki asked Kuroko, too lost in his thoughts to actually have heard the younger boy.

"Nothing."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Problems concerning other sports clubs was something he shouldn't be dwelling on, Izuki told himself. Winter Cup was approaching closer by each day, and soon he'd be competing along with his team in the Preliminaries with a goal to come out on top and nothing else, which meant that dealing with the case of an unwilling-to-win athlete like Fuyu Hikari may not be a good idea in case she becomes able to rub her ideologies at him as well.

But gods help him, Izuki thought watching the figure outside of the gate walk towards him while holding a huge black umbrella. His growing curiosity about how and why and what now about her couldn't be helped. He felt like a moth drawn to fire; the more he satiated his curiosity, the more risk he's presenting himself with.

Also, what can he do? He remembered another order from the Coach that he should be doing moments after practice ended that day, and Izuki saw it as another excuse to know the classmate that had never been the same to him since the day he met her outside of the class.

So he and Kuroko should still have to walk Hikari to Aida's Sports Gym to have her borrow Kagetora-san's medicine ball as instructed by their Coach. Kuroko already left—maybe the kid forgot, he didn't know— so he has to do it alone.

And it was raining again.

"You took your time," Hikari said when they'd reached each other. She immediately held the umbrella over his head as well, creasing her forehead in his drenched state.

"Sorry, I almost forgot."

"Knew you would. Where's Kuroko-san?"

"Ah. He's not coming, he's kinda sick," he lied, defending Kuroko's absent-mindedness.

They were standing by the street in front one of Seirin's exit gates. A few students loitered by, all donning umbrellas to counter the sudden rainfall. Both their teams had taken other routes; his went to Maji Burger first. As much as he wanted to come with them, he wouldn't want to have her waiting here in the any longer.

His hair was already wet from having to run there without an umbrella. He noticed Hikari frowning on this and watched as she made him hold the chocolate bar she was consuming to take out a handkerchief from her skirt pocket, then she started dragging on Izuki's forehead.

"You're dripping," she said, leaning the hand that held the umbrella on his collarbone to steady himself.

Izuki smiled at the gesture, taking a moment to admire the stain on her face and how it uncomplemented the frown on her face. "I'm fine. Use that for yourself." He took her wrist gently and peeled the handkerchief off.

"What?"

He scoffed and wiped something from the side of her mouth. "You look more embarrassing than me." Then he gave the handkerchief back and there was dirt, no, chocolate on it.

The walk was rather comfortable excluding the fact that the rain got their socks and school uniforms slightly wet. Hikari didn't seem to mind that their shoulders touched due to their proximity in sharing her umbrella and Izuki didn't mind that at all. If she was comfortable with him then the better she'll make herself understood by him. The air between the two was kept casual by the occasional remarks about the boring classes they share, and she also started poking his cheek with a new bar of Sneakers.

The moment they knocked on the entrance of Aida's Sports Gym, Kagetora-san's face came blearing down on them, a bright blue medicine ball in one hand.

"Good evening, Kagetora san."

"Good evening, Mr. . urgh."

Kagetora-san was frowning.

"My lovely daughter said 3 of her apprentices are coming tonight to get this," he moved the hand holding the ball. "I only see two."

Izuki gulped.

"Ah, Kuroko? He's―he's…"

The man smirked. "Aww, it's alright. I know you two intentionally left the other kid just so you can be alone―"

"What―? No!" they said in unison.

He proceeded to laugh, throwing his head back in mirth.

"I told you it's alright. Here." And he shifted the weight of the blue sphere on Izuki's arms.

The boy almost fell on the floor, trying to catch it.

"Ugh~! This is HEAVY," he wobbled and struggled to lift it up to his stomach's level, only to have it falling and rolling on the cement floor.

Of course it's heavy, it's a 4 kilogram medicine ball after all.

"Work it, kid," the older man said, still smirking at the boy who now has the ball secured on his arms.

"Uh, may I ask where the Coach is?" asked Izuki, his arms straining from the effort, though it was bearable.

"Right upstairs, taking a shower."

The classmates shared a mutual glance that voiced their unspoken thoughts.

"Please tell her we already came to get the medicine ball and that we said thanks, we wouldn't want to interrupt more," said Hikari.

Kagetora-san chuckled. "Sure thing, Red Wine," he told her. "You must be the setter Riko-Tan was talking about."

The girl looked perplexed.

"Ah, I guess so?"

Then the man surprised the two teens by putting a hand on Hikari's head.

"I see, you really have a weird head, huh?" he stated, squeezing her skull a little bit.

"Well, uh, Kagetora-san," Izuki spluttered, worriedly looking at the hand on Hikari's head, "We'll be taking our leave now."

He let his hand down. "Alright, careful on your way."

"Hai. Thank you so much!" the two bowed politely.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki huffed in relief the moment they stopped in front of a small, modern-styled house. They finally reached Hikari's place, after such a long, wet journey. Oh, he just had to smile.

The rain had poured down on them heavier and once he had to run after the medicine ball when it slipped off his hands and rolled on its merry way down the slippery street. Of course the run had made him all wet and dripping and Hikari just really had to laugh herself silly.

Right, and he was even doing this for her.

"I'll just get this inside," he said when the girl turned to him.

"Sure."

She opened the door and got in, Izuki following close. He'd been here last night, when he had to walk her too, but he didn't have to get in. Now he had to cuz he still wouldn't want a girl to carry that heavy sphere full of sand that they call medicine ball (why is it even called medicine ball? It doesn't look like it can sure something), even if the girl he was referring to was probably even more athletic than him.

When Hikari told him to place it at the carpet on the corner, that's when it dawned to her, that her poor and helpful classmate, soaked in rain and stinking, needs a warm shower immediately, that is if he doesn't like getting sick. She face-palmed herself, she'd be the one to get sick if he gets home like this.

"Izuki-kun."

"Yeap?" he stood up in front of her.

"Uhhh, well. You look un-look-able. "

"That's a pun," he said beaming.

She snorted and scratched her dark blood-colored head, looking unsure. "You need to take a shower."

"I will, when I get home. Thanks."

"You need it now, I guess you can use my brother's shower…?"

"What?"

"You can't go home like that, you know."

Izuki looked around, trying to hide the embarrassment. "Uhhh, you'd let me shower here?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said the maroonhead, "My brother won't be here until midnight. No one's around, just me."

Oh no.

"Uhh. . ." of course he's reluctant, this is embarrassing.

Hikari sighed. "Come on. No big deal. I just don't want you to get home looking like you've been swallowed and spitted out by an anaconda."

Izuki made a disgusted face and looked at himself. "Eh, I don't think. . ."

She sighed, yanked him by the elbow and started pulling him into one of the rooms in the small house.

Groans and whines of 'I really don't have to,' were heard before she managed to toss the point guard into the bathroom and shut the door. She had to put herself as a barrier on the door to keep the stubborn and embarrassed boy from getting out.

"I don't have a change of. . .anything!" called Izuki, pushing the door so as not to be pegged as… too submissive. He does think he needs a shower now but oh well, being all flustered makes him go out-of-character.

"I'll get you something!" Hikari yelled back, although they were just a door apart. "Just stop pushing the door, damn it."

Izuki dropped his hands, realizing how childish he acted like. Damn, why should he get all embarrassed like this? He's just going to take a shower and that's it. "Alright," he surrendered.

"Good."

He has already stripped his wet gakuran top off and was about to pull down his slacks zipper when Hikari barged inside the bathroom, a bunch of clothing in her arms.

"Whoa~whoaah! Holy shoot, I'm sorry!" she immediately backed off, seeing his half-naked back and turning face full of horror.

"Sorry, I thought you were still fully dressed," she called again, already on the other side of the bathroom door.

The point guard wanted to pull his hair out. "It's alright, just leave them there."

"I dunno what you would wear so I got a variety for you," he heard her say from the outside. "These are all my brother's. He's quite bigger than you, but I guess they'll fit alright."

"Alright. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it," he replied sincerely.

He heard her giggle. "You're welcome. It's my fault you got wet in the rain anyway."

"It can't be helped, we have a rain-sane wet-ther after all." PING!

A string of chortles from outside the bathroom instantly followed. "What the heck!? That's the lamest pun you've ever made!"

Izuki couldn't help the beam that erupted on his face, hidden from his obviously amused classmate. _But you're laughing anyway,_ he wanted to say.

Hearing her laugh like this reminded him of that rainy Sunday when he first saw her play volleyball with her teammates. She'd sounded so loud, so hysterical, and now he was hearing her laugh like that again. Maybe, he figured, maybe she'd become comfortable around him, just like him around her.

The he remembered again… the reason why she probably isn't his type of girl.

_Sheesh, why do I have to get reminded of that now?_

When he heard the sound of a barring door and Hikari's fading chuckles, Izuki shrugged and went on with this very misplaced and quite untimely shower.

**EXTRA:**

"Of course, you miss the fun when you miss the pun, so I keep it handy-dandy."

Giggle. "Do you also. . . sit down in a thinking chair and think, think, think," she sang, mimicking that weird guy with striped green shirt.

Kagami grimaced, the hold in his tray of burgers starting to tighten.

No, he did not just hear his senpai and that girl from the volleyball club talk about that show. That freaking kiddie show he was so freakishly fond of when he was still a kid in L.A.

No, he didn't want to get reminded of that every time he sees the little notebook of his senpai that the older boy seems to be pulling out a lot.

No.

He didn't care if they're dating or what, he's gonna find a table farthest from those two weirdoes.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find one.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

If there are people out there who actually gives a shit about this thing, I'd totally appreciate it if you make your presence felt, so leave a review first before you get the hell out of here.

Haha lol, am just trolling. But yeah, please review. Thanks.

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

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	4. Chapter 4

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Anime/MangaKuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ

Follow/Fav**Iridescent**

By: thefictionfreak

We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Spiritual - Izuki S., OC - Chapters: 5 - Words: 19,237 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 35 - Follows: 49 - Updated: 5/8 - Published: 4/3 - id: 10240114

\+ - Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5 Next

**Iridescent Chapter IV**

When Izuki stepped out of the small bathroom, the first thing he heard was the strong sound of rain hitting the roof and the thunders crashing.

The clothes she handed him weren't bad; the ones he picked were actually something he would wear on good days. The dark long-sleeved shirt was tight around the arms but they looked ok when rolled up to the elbow, and the faded jeans were not very skinny. It really was a good thing the rain wasn't able to reach his underclothes, or else…

"Hikari-san?" he called, stepping into the small, gold hued living room.

He found her sitting cross-legged on the floor, tossing a basketball (the one he handed to her yesterday) into a wall repeatedly. It was the same drill he saw her doing during practice, but there was something _absolutely refreshing_ about seeing her in simple house clothes like those oversized shirt and skimpy shorts while at it. Her long maroon hair was worn down too, tips touching the floor like petals of dark red roses around her slim figure.

Wide, blood-colored eyes looked up at him at the sound of her name, halting in her take-home practice at once. He found it weird, though, how she almost instantly turned her head the moment she met his sharp gaze.

"I can't let you step out yet, it's still raining cats and dogs outside," she told him without looking.

"Yeah," he sat on the couch just beside her, "And people like me used to think bringing an umbrella is too _pet_ty for some reason."

Hikari tss-ed at him with a knowing grin.

"You just had to make an excuse to spew out another lame pun."

He didn't reply, but the tiny smirk she managed to see on his lips while the point guard was drying his black, tousled locks with a towel was enough for her.

_Alluring, _she thought, watching him without turning her head.

The girl immediately tried to get back to tossing before he catches her.

"Urgh, it's tangled."

When she looked at him again, he was watching her closely it was impossible to ignore the scent of freshly cut pine needles on him. His now dry hair was sticking up all over the place and he looked so endearing and she had no idea how his eyes suddenly looked a lot more silvery than usual.

"You need a comb or something?"

Izuki lifted a lock of hair and spoke in a serious tone, "My hair says 'I'm a frayed knot', so I guess my fingers will do." PING!

If there was anything Izuki didn't enjoy about saying that pun, it was only the way Hikari's palm connected painfully on his arm. The rest, like the sight of her giggling helplessly while trying to throttle him, he was rather proud of.

Moments later, a small talk about their sports kept them busy while waiting for the heavy rain to subside.

When Hikari finished her tossings, she realized it was dinner time. She stood up, spent a minute on the kitchen, shoved a cup of instant ramen on Izuki's hands, and sat on the couch beside him, helping herself with a cup of her own.

He thanked her and slurped a hearty heaving.

"So how do you do it, the split-second playmaking thing while in a crucial rally?" he then asked, resuming their previous conversation. "Because in basketball, you have plenty of seconds to think about an appropriate play for a certain situation, but in a volleyball rally, it's a continuous round of blows there's like no time to think at all."

"Absolutely 100% right," she replied, wide-eyed, after a mouthful of noodles. "But well, in fast-paced situations like that, what I do is I try to slow-down the pace of the game while trusting that my teammates will take every single pass that I give them, so I just make use of my experiences and instincts instead of actually thinking of what my next plays are gonna be. I don't know if it's applicable in basketball though."

Izuki nodded, understanding a lot. "I think it is. I think the point guard has to do the same job. How do you slow it down when the game is too fast-paced, by the way?"

"Hmm, let's see," the setter put fingers over her lips, eyes wandering up. Then she brightened and said, "Oh, I guess just by being a leader to your team while on the court."

Izuki tried to ignore it when she lifted her legs and put them close to her body like that, making the couch sag a bit against them.

"Although we're not the captain, or the ace, or a scorer," she continued, "I think point guards and setters always have to be the ones in command. Proper communication and influence to your team makes that work."

He's aware of how laid-back this female athlete is when it comes to matches, she even told him she doesn't like opting for a win. But oddly enough, he has been learning a lot of things about the setter that he can definitely use as a point guard.

It was almost laughable actually, for a team with a setter this diverse in game understanding to not have won a single match in the Interhigh prelims. And now they're even on the verge of getting terminated if they keep they're losing streak.

Out of the blue, Hikari suddenly asked about how he was able to send passes to people even without actually looking, and why it seems like the point guard can see everyone in the court when he plays.

Izuki scratched his head and explained about his Eagle Eye, ears turning pink when Hikari said she was watching him that's why she noticed.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Is your Coach around?"

"She's still with your teammates outside."

Hikari beamed.

"Alright, gimmie a pass!"

Izuki reluctantly gave her a pass.

"You're gonna shoot?"

Scoff. "No, I'm gonna bonk you in the head with it."

Scoff. "I'd like to see to try."

"What, bonk you in the head or shoot? I can do both."

"I'd prefer if you just shoot."

Another scoff. Then Hikari checked to see if she wasn't stepping on the free-throw line and tossed the ball to the ring.

"Oh my god, it went through. It didn't even hit the freaking hoop, hah~!"

"Nice shot in a new niche! That's great!"

Giggles. "It's not great, the pun I mean."

Sigh. "You know, it's kind of getting a bit frustrating how you keep denying my punning ability."

"Your nonexistent punning ability?" and she openly laughed.

But Izuki was smiling amiably at her, ball gathered back in his hands.

They were the only ones left on the court, his teammates already on their locker room done with practice and her teammates still doing a spiking drill on the school field under Riko's guidance. Hikari was left on the gym, not needing a spiking training being a setting specialist, and she still has to throw a few tosses before she completes her 500 sets for the day. Izuki, passing by and seeing his classmate alone, came up and now they're having a free-throw shooting contest right there.

Hikari couldn't believe it, but she actually won and was able to shoot 5 consecutive free-throws against Izuki, who had missed a shot and is a basketball player at that.

"Jeez, you beat me there," he huffed, smiling endearingly. "Although you're not actually shooting, you're just tossing it to the hoop like this is volleyball."

"What, as long as it goes in, it's a score."

The point guard blinked, considering. "That's right. Now that I think about it, I've seen a lot of basketball players with weird shooting forms."

She grinned, dribbling the basketball like a volleyball.

"Hey, why don't you try what I do, see if it works on you?" Hikari sent him a pass.

He complied, not seeing anything wrong with it. This might become an opportunity to learn a new shooting technique, who knew?

He lifted the ball, trying to think of her tossing stance. When he jumped and tossed, the arc was too shallow and the ball hit the hoop instead.

Hikari clicked her tongue. "That's not how you do it, your hands are wrong."

She stepped close, close enough he could see the glisten of her sweat trailing down her neck down to her collarbone, and then she positioned his hands accordingly.

"There, use both of your wrists to flip the ball out. No need to push it too hard."

Complying, Izuki tried again and failed again, earning a mental pat on the back from himself for at least trying.

"I didn't think this was hard," he said, grinning in a self-deprecating way. "It's easy for you 'cause your hands are flexible, and very soft."

They looked at one another.

"And you're a trained setter, that's why" he added before he turns pink again.

The maroonhead smiled. "Must be the medicine ball's fault. That super heavy drag really improved my wrist and my arm strength in just a couple of days. Look, I feel like I can shoot super long threes now, hah."

But before she can toss the ball in the air again, a whizz of black and blue lunged forward and stole it from her, bodies almost colliding due to her lack of guard. She yelped and laughed, not expecting his advance, but immediately got her game back.

"Let's see you try that if you can pass me," he said, keeping his stance and dribbling the ball, a look of challenge in his striking face.

She could swear his eyes glinted.

Hikari humored herself at the idea and tried to mirror him. "One-on-one, huh?"

In the end, they only managed to look like two children playing tag because Hikari clearly didn't know how to guard and steal, or play basketball at all. And she kept yelping and laughing too.

Izuki took advantage of this, and showed her how it was done… showed it in a way Hikari could only perceive as excessively cool and hot because heck, that was really how it was like playing one-on-one basketball with Izuki Shun when he's putting his frisky game-face on so close to you just like that.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Did you put glitters on? Cuz I literally saw sparkles around you guys there."

Kai, the team captain and ace, gave her setter a toothy sneer, leaning by the lockers after a trip to the shower room.

Hikari groaned and looked up from her locker. "Please, I've already had enough puns for the rest of my life_."_

The spiker shrugged, curly pigtails bouncing. "Means you've been hanging out with that point guard long enough to have had enough puns for the rest of your life."

"Heh~ good one," the maroonhead replied sardonically.

But Kai just sneered more and crossed her arms over her towel-wrapped chest.

"So tell me, how far have you two gone?"

Hikari threw the first item she grabbed from her locker to the captain's face, careful about her towel slipping down her body.

The deodorant was immediately blocked.

"You know what? We haven't gotten very far, but I'll talk to him later and we'll go as far as burning your tongue out and sewing your mouth shut."

The sound of their chuckles instantly gave away the bite in their remarks. You just know that they're just kidding each other and have been doing that for a long time.

"I mean why don't you jump on him already?" Kai was saying. "I literally think you should be doing that every time I see you guys together."

"Yeah, you'd be like the cutest couple in all of Seirin. Gosh, point guard and setter," a teammate squealed. Kai high-fived her.

"I will jump on him," Hikari answered back, holding her towel to her chest, "But I will do a double back flip and kick all of your faces through your asses."

"Brutal," another commented.

"But seriously, Hikari. What do you think of Mr. Point Guard?" Kai asked after a moment.

Hikari let out a small huff and also leaned on the lockers, seemingly less cynical than seconds ago.

"Well, seriously, I think Izuki's pretty cute. And adorable. And smart. I think everyone agrees he's the hottest in their team, right?"

The girls gave a yeah-I-guess-so kind of nod.

"But to be honest, I don't know if he's boyfriend material. Well for me anyway. Cuz, you know, I'm too much of a psycho, and he's like‒" she flanged her arms out "‒this absolutely sane guy and like overly philosophical about life and sports and stuff."

"Isn't that exactly what you need?" said someone sarcastic.

The girl in question took a second to think.

"What? A psychotherapist? I guess not."

"But you know in romance movies, the guy shows up and fixes whatever crap was broken about the girl or something like that."

"Shut up," threatened Hikari while grinning. "I guess… someone on par with my psychotic-ness will work on me more." Then she chuckled like something was funny.

"Wait, are you guys talking about that senpai who likes wearing blue shirts in practice?" said another girl who just entered the changing room.

"Yea, like him too?" asked Kai.

"OMG, no. I have a friend who's absolutely super fangirl over that guy, but she says he likes super terrible super lame puns."

"Huh? Isn't that like a total turn-off when a pretty guy acts like a total lame-o." another girl rolled her eyes.

"Hmm, really? But you know guys, I actually like the puns. I mean I like it when he's punning, not the puns. It's lame, but isn't that what makes him kind of adorable?" confessed Hikari.

"Seriously?" smirked the captain.

"I don't know, but yeah. He's like trying to be funny all the time and he's serious about it even though it never worked. I think that's very adorable."

The whole team stared at their setter incredulously like she's developed a ridiculous disorder.

"I beg to differ."

"Hikari-senpai totally digs that hottie."

"Girlfriends defending their beloved boyfriends' reputation are always the best."

"What the actual hell." Hikari sniggered.

Miyu, a freshman spiker, held out an index finger and said, "Did you know? Research shows that when a person laughs too much even at lame humor," the smile on the girls' face comically turned to a frown, "It means they're sad."

Hikari made a sneering 'wtf' face.

"Awww. That's saaad, Hikari," Kai actually tried sounding unhappy, but only succeeded in sounding like her usual sardonic self. "Don't worry, research also shows that when girls laugh at guys with lame humor, it means they're flirting with them."

The setter felt like throwing the all the contents of her locker to her captain's face, but weren't able to do so as she was immediately overcame by her strings of flustered laughter.

Then while her team fooled around, she inwardly wondered if both of those researches (including Kai's) were right.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Next day at practice.

"Izuki-kun."

"Yes, Coach."

"Can you try that shot again?"

Some PFFFT's were heard.

"You mean that lame shot Izuki suddenly pulled out of nowhere?" said Hyuuga.

"I didn't pull it out of nowhere."

Riko put a hand on her hips. "Try it."

He did, this time it went in.

If there was anyone observing Riko closely, they would have sworn her eyes sparkled.

"Good job, Izuki-kun. We will work on developing this particular shot. This might be your offensive weapon."

Izuki fisted the air triumphantly, glancing at the volleyball club from the other side of the court, making a mental note to high five Hikari the next time they meet.

He instantly feigned a choke the moment he saw her glance his way too.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I'm looking forward to seeing your reviews. :D

P.S You guys wanna see Hikari? I drew a picture of her, she's kind of cute :) The link is on my profile.

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	5. Chapter 5

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Anime/MangaKuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ

Follow/Fav**Iridescent**

By: thefictionfreak

We've met before, every once in a rare while. I sail in the cluster of the night, you outshine in the daybreak. The cataclysm that is our union made your splendour known to me, but never once have I considered looking at your face. I should've known you were lovely. Izuki x OC.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Spiritual - Izuki S., OC - Chapters: 5 - Words: 19,237 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 35 - Follows: 49 - Updated: 5/8 - Published: 4/3 - id: 10240114

\+ - Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5

**Iridescent Chapter V**

_From: Coach_

_Subject: Meeting_

_Date: 11/3 9:34 AM_

_Kuroko-kun, Izuki-kun, let's meet at the rooftop this lunch break._

Izuki stared at his phone, trying to think of a reason why Riko would request to meet up with only him and Kuroko. Usually, she demands the whole team's presence when she has something to say. Now it's a meeting between just the three of them.

He came up with one possible reason, something that has to do with a certain maroon headed classmate (who was currently seated desks away from him, scribbling something) taking it from the conversation they had about her the first time they shared the same gym for practice. But that wasn't quite plausible, considering how that certain classmate wasn't very much related to basketball, or to their team for that matter.

He stood up from his seat, joining the crowd of students filing to go outside for lunch. Before he stepped out of the classroom, Izuki spared another glance at Hikari and wondered why she just sat there and scribbled. It seemed like the setter doesn't plan on leaving the class to hang out with her teammates like she usually did.

"Did you manage to talk to Hikari-san?"

That was the first thing Riko said the moment the three were gathered. It turned out Izuki was right.

"We did," said Izuki, leaning his elbows on the railings. "She offered some really interesting but vaguely uncanny insights if I must say,"

"Agreed," said Kuroko.

"Really? Like what?" asked their Coach, leaning on the railings in between the two.

"Well, with everything that she'd said, she made it clear that she didn't play for the sake of winning at all; she played for the enjoyment, because she loved the sport, which for me is a nice thing," Izuki explained. "The not-so-nice things, however, is that one; she's taking the idea of victory like it's an entirely negative thing, and two; she tries to play with the intention of winning only because her team needs to, but she still loses because her fighting spirit is only a pretence, and she doesn't deserve it anyway. The problem is still there; they still might get terminated if this continues."

"Agreed," Kuroko spoke again, gazing down at the students passing by on the Seirin high grounds. "And since she's aware that she's the one who's holding her team back, it's a probable idea that she's blaming herself for the threat of termination."

Riko looked troubled at the prospects being shown by the two boys.

"So it's a real complicated problem on pride and ideologies?" she sighed. "Well, that could be a real pain on her part if she comes to realize that she has led her team to no good because of her inability to believe in victory. Just thinking of that makes me want to be sick, jeez."

The young coach plopped her forearms on the railings and leaned her head on them in a gesture that showed how the dilemma exhausted her.

"I'm sorry to have to put you two in charge of this. I should be the one dealing with their team problems, not you guys," she told them self-dejectedly.

The two boys blinked at their coach.

"Coach, you've already been doing your best helping their team while training us," said Kuroko thoughtfully.

"Hikari-san's case is different," Riko clarified. "It's something I can't solve by just physically conditioning her. I am not an athlete, I don't know how it feels like to handle the pressure of having to win inside the hardcourt, especially in a case in which the athlete refused to fight, much less win. She does fight, but that's hypocritical as much as she's kidding herself."

It was odd to see their coach having trouble in something not related to the basketball club, Izuki and Kuroko figured.

"So I tried to think of other options and came up with people who can deal with her in my stead," she continued. "Teppei is still adjusting in his return to the team, Hyuuga-kun doesn't know how to handle girls, Papa doesn't have time, and the others don't have much experience, so you guys are my best bet."

"You don't have to worry," said Izuki reassuringly. "I think Hikari-san is going to be ok—the volleyball club is going to be ok. She knows what she has to forego to get a chance to keep her team, and I think she's working hard on it. They'll be fine."

"I hope you're right about that, Izuki-kun. They have a practice match today and they need to show improvement by winning, or else I'd have to confront Hikari-san myself," said Riko, irritation evident in her tone of voice.

Izuki's attention focused at the mention of a practice match for the volleyball club.

"She's got the skills and everything, just not the volition," Riko continued. "A good soldier never survives a war if he's unwilling, so Hikari-san has to be willing. She can't just let her team lose easily, that's a huge waste."

"But she lacked objectives in winning before," said Kuroko.

"Yeah, because she only wanted to have fun with her team before, never feeling the need to go for a win," Izuki supplied. "Now it's different, now she's obliged."

"Fuyu-senpai will probably have it in her to fight seriously this time."

Riko sighed despondently despite what they were saying. "You guys are telling me not to fret too much on them, but I don't know, I'm still not too sure about that team. Sometimes, they feel like a bunch of kids to me. I don't know if that's because they're girls, or maybe I've just been stuck around you basketball freaks a lot."

Then the young coach stretched her arms with a stifled yawn and turned for the exit, Izuki and Kuroko watched her start to walk away.

"I'll see you later in practice," said Riko before heading out.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki pushed the sliding door of their classroom and was glad to see his target still on her seat.

Hikari was looking out the window, a hand of her chin, her dark-blood hair side-swept on one shoulder with its tips sprawled on top of her desk. There was a look in her eyes that can simply be interpreted as boredom, but Izuki's sharp eyes saw it as something akin to despondency. If he were to put it figuratively, she almost appeared to be looking at an apology somewhere.

And somehow, it made her look even more beautiful. . .

Izuki dispelled the silly thought and walked towards her, holding a plastic bag with food on one hand.

"Hikari-san, did you get lunch already?" he asked.

The setter turned to look up at the point guard. "Yeah, thanks," she replied casually.

"But I didn't see you out with your team. I saw them on the canteen, you weren't around."

"Maybe I went alone?" she impishly told him, smiling a humorless smile.

Izuki sat on the chair in front of her desk, turning sideward to face the setter.

"You weren't there, I didn't see you."

"Don't tell me you can see everyone wherever you go?" she chuckled humorlessly.

"Well you just have this long dark red hair and you're wearing a beige sweater and you're taller than a lot of girls. It would be ill-eagle for my Eagle Eye to not notice you." PING!

His attempt on cheering her up proved successful when Hikari made an expression that can only be described as a cross between wanting to strangle him and wanting to take him home and squish the fluffins out of him.

Izuki just had to smile seeing this, completely forgetting what he came here for.

"Heh~ should I give a laugh for that? How many?" she teased, still wearing the same expression.

"No need. You're already laughing inside your head."

"Yes, while beating you to a bloody pulp."

Sigh. "You're not gonna admit that you think I'm funny, orange you?" PING!

Izuki chuckled his squinty-eyed chuckle while frantically trying to restrain his classmate who have reached out and tried to tackle him, pinching his cheeks sore and chortling like a helpless goof.

"Why are you like that, why?!" she screeched.

Andhe thought, God, her reactions are always the best.

Some of their classmates who didn't leave for lunch were starting to give them odd looks.

"Since when did those two started acting all buddy-buddy?" one of them whispered.

"I don't know, I heard their teams practice together on the gym. I've been noticing them talk like bffs every once in a while now," whispered another.

"That explains a lot. I wonder what they do in 'practice' for them to suddenly be this close?"

By the end of their little skirmish, Izuki's cheeks were already very pink from all the pinching.

After a moment of recovery, he pulled out a sandwich from the plastic bag he brought.

"You must be hungry, I haven't had lunch too so I'll share with you," he handed it to her, still grinning happily. He took one for himself and started eating.

"My teammates went here, they bought me food," she said after recovering.

As a proof, she showed him some empty packs bunched on the compartment under her desk.

"But don't worry I'm still hungry." And she took the sandwich and ate.

"Why didn't you go with them?" the point guard asked.

"Cuz I'm busy, simple as that."

"Busy with what? I don't think we have a quiz or something."

"I wonder why students here are always ready to kill each other just to buy that super special black iberian pig sandwich when there's a tuna sandwich this aweso‒"

"Were you busy with this?" Izuki cut her random rambling, picking a piece of paper on her table.

"Uh well, you can say that," she admitted. "You won't even make anything out of it anyway."

He looked at the bunch of messed up lines and numbers and scribbles on it.

"No, I think this looks like a game plan. For the practice game later, I presume?"

Hikari narrowed her eyes.

"Who told you about that?"

"Coach. Anyway, where would it be held? Who are the opponents?"

She huffed. "I don't know about the opponents but it'll be here in school, on the gym."

"Really? I hope Coach allows us to watch," he bit another mouthful.

A sneer appeared on Hikari's lips. "You wouldn't want to watch us play, dorky. In fact, I don't think you'd be able to. It starts two hours before class ends so we'll be leaving earlier."

Izuki's pupils suddenly dilated, eyebrows knitting together‒ a look of utter shock in his face.

Hikari braced herself for what's coming next.

"Then we will be missing the match because the schedule is a mismatch!" PING!

And she turned into a sniggering mess again and gave the adorable black-haired boy another pinch on the cheek, making an amused sound in her throat.

"You're so freaking raaandooom~!"

The punster wrote down the pun when she let go of his cheek, smiling at his success.

They continued emptying the plastic bag at a leisurely pace. When they finished and put away all the trash, Izuki didn't go back to his own desk. Instead, he resumed his seat in front of Hikari. This time, he went down to business and told her what he'd been meaning to the entire time.

"Hikari-san, promise me you'll do your best to win the game today."

Too bad it really just had to ruin the mood.

The sincerity in his tone made the setter cringe. It almost instantly wiped away the liveliness in her aura.

"That's exactly what my teammates told me when they came here, no need to repeat," she told him impassively.

"I just wanna make sure you will, without _any excuses_."

Hikari sighed deeply, rolling her eyes. "I won't make a promise or anything cuz I'm not good at keeping them, but I will play like my life depends on it, you ok with that? I told you I still try to do what I can for my team, even if It meant having to try to win. Not that I'm the kind of person for that stuff."

The setter looked away uninterestedly and refused to answer any more of his questions like an enthusiastic person does.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Two hours before the class gets dismissed, Hikari stood up from her seat, took her bag and her stuff, walked towards the Sensei in front of them, gave a note which Izuki assumed to be an excuse letter, and left.

But before she stepped out to meet her teammates for the practice match, she gave Izuki a millisecond of a glance that said something he couldn't decipher. He held up a thumb and gave her a quick smile that says 'Good luck!' in return.

Two hours later, the sharp-eyed point guard almost broke into a grin while walking towards the gym for practice when he heard the squeaks of shoes and the occasional yells of female volleyball players.

This could only mean one thing. The practice match still hasn't finished yet.

"Hear that? That's the volleyball club, they're having a practice match against another school. Come on let's go watch!" he told Hyuuga who was walking with him.

"I didn't know you stink of hypocrisy like this, Izuki. I should've known you like spying on girls. That's an abuse of special ability!" the clutch shooter said.

"What? No! I wanna see how they play! What are you talking about Hyuuga?"

But the practice match has already ended when they arrived, to Izuki's further disappointment. The two teams were already shaking hands in the center of the court, saying thanks and congratulating the winners as they go.

But the underlying question was: who won the game?

Izuki immediately looked at the scoreboard and his onyx eyes widened at the sight of the results.

_5th set, Hayashi – 12, Seirin – 15._

It's a victory for Hikari's team.

And it was a tight match which lasted for 2 hours extending until the 5th set.

It must have been a thrilling game, she must have given her best, she must be feeling really good about winning finally—

Izuki watched Hikari, who was clad in Seirin's volleyball uniform which he realized was a sight he haven't seen until then, looking for a reaction, hoping she would somehow show any kind of delight about winning such a tight match.

But she just remained silent, nonchalant, passive, as if winning didn't affect her in any kind of way.

Watching her now reminded him of the many basketball players with the same expression after winning a game.

Then she met his gaze, icy and suspecting and blank all the same. It puzzled him more when she decided to not acknowledge his presence and just casually ignored him.

"Looks like someone gets snobby when they snag a win."

It was Hyuuga who said that. He also noticed.

Izuki wondered what was wrong, why they weren't looking happy about finally winning, finally getting a chance to be acknowledged as a team capable of victory and giving honor to the school, finally redeeming their reputation. Instead, they looked the opposite.

His questions were immediately answered when the opposing team walked in front of him and Hyuuga, heading towards the changing rooms.

He noticed it when they started whispering at each other at the sight of him, ogling and blushing and smiling shyly like middle school students…

It dawned to him right then.

This team was from a school named Hayashi. Once, he heard his little sister, Mai, talking about wanting to go this school next year because the dismissal time is two hours earlier than most schools, and it's just around their prefecture so there won't be a problem.

But his little sister was just in 6th grade in elementary, and she wants to go to Hayashi next year.

. . . to Hayashi Middle School.

Seirin High School volleyball club just had a practice match against Hayashi Middle School volleyball club, and the high school girls even had a hard time trying to win against the middle schoolers.

Now there's no way he wouldn't understand how awful it must have felt.

So when Hikari's team started heading towards the changing rooms as well, he strode towards them, called out to his classmate, and grasped her arm when she chose to ignore him again.

He was met by a pair of hollow, dark-blood colored eyes gazing lifelessly and at the same time infuriatingly at him.

"Can we talk?"

She cocked her eyebrows, chirping an oddly high-pitched "Sure."

She glanced at her team and gave them a signal to go ahead without her.

He released her arm, she stared at him boringly again.

"Who decided about this? Why did you allow a practice match against a middle school team?"

"The Sports Department did. Why? Because it's unfair for the little brats? Or is it unfair for us?"

Izuki felt his usually kept and leveled temper unexpectedly rising up at her lack of retribution. His pupils dilated, making his eyes gleam a furious shade of silver.

"Either way, it's just wrong, Hikari-san. You should be going against fellow high school teams, not middle schoolers. You and your team deserves better than this."

She scoffed.

"Alright, so we go against another funny-assed high school team and then what? We get crushed like always?"

"Then at least you should've crushed them!" he stifled a yell. "Show everyone you can do so much more!"

He knew it shouldn't feel better to yell, but it did.

"Oh?" she scoffed again. "You didn't see how much we tried, how much I tried."

"Don't give me that." Izuki found it funny that he sounded like Hyuuga now, but never thought about laughing about it. "You were holding back, weren't you?"

"What!?"

"You were holding back because for some ridiculous reason, you don't really wanna win," he said accusingly.

She didn't scoff this time, she chuckled. And it lacked the humor it used to have. Izuki honest-to-God hated it.

"So you're still going on about that, about me trying to lose on purpose," she snapped. "You really think I'm that much of an insufferable idiot, huh?"

"What—"

"Don't get me wrong here, Izuki-kun. I know you think that I don't care about my team just as long as I'm having fun getting my pride up since you know what I believe in, but you're wrong. You're misjudging me, and I've misjudged you too. I shouldn't have trusted you."

Izuki's hands curled into fists, not only because he didn't know how to respond to that, but also because he was taken aback hearing her say that she shouldn't have trusted him.

"Look, this is the only way we win, Izuki-kun," she continued. "Playing against weak and hopeless teams just like what I've managed to make out of this team of mine."

The point guard's scowl deepened, finding his voice again. "But your team is not weak, Hikari-san, you're not hopeless. Everyone knows that. You're more than capable to fight and win."

"Well surprise. I'm sorry to say that we're not the great and mighty team that you've been seeing here in this gym ever since we started crashing your practice. Haven't you heard? We're getting wiped out real soon! This gym will be all yours again."

"Stop saying that! A team becomes amazing because of a great support, and you're a great support of them. Weren't you the one who told me that? You're a strong athlete, Hikari-san, I don't believe the only thing you can do is to drag your team down like what you're trying to tell me now."

He hoped she was able to pick up that the last sentence was meant to emphasize how much he believes in her, but what she told him next proved otherwise.

"Well here's what I'm telling you," the setter stepped close enough it's impossible to ignore the tiny liquid crystals forming on her eyes. "There are many things you can do to strengthen an athlete's mind and physique, Izuki-kun, but you can do nothing to strengthen a person's heart. If the heart is weak, physical and mental strengths becomes just as useless as a piece of shit."

Then she turned and walked away, without sparing another glance.

And that was the moment Izuki came to realize why pursuit of victory has never been an option for Fuyu Hikari.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Fact Fujimaki-san made up: Izuki having a little sister named Mai is canon. It's on the Replace II omake.

Fact I just made up: The volleyball club's jersey has the same design and colors as the basketball club's, just a whole lotta tighter and styled for volleyball of course. One day, I'll try to draw that. I don't know.

Chapter 6 is coming real soon. Still busy doing thesis.

Prev 1. Chapter 12. Chapter 23. Chapter 34. Chapter 45. Chapter 5

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.

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